"Alright, we'll show the public the footage from a very early build with little action, then we'll have a playable demo we don't want anybody recording or talking about, and after THAT we'll drop footage and info right before June ends, spending that month basically blue-balling 90% of people. How could this POSSIBLY backfire?" Someone at SEGA's marketing team maybe needs to re-evaluate a few things.
The aesthetics of the cyber space levels are beautiful- especially the city themed one with the blur effects of cars moving along the roads at the speed of light. I just wish they wouldn’t show how awkwardly Sonic sticks to walls when running on them, I cringe every time. Also, just a nitpick, but the way the announcer in that trailer tells us we can “attack enemies standing in your way” doesn’t make it sound all that engaging. Instead of making them seem like fierce, abstract threats, it makes it sound like they’re all just kinda lounging around waiting to be vaporized by Sonic.
You jest, but the lead creator of those games is the guy that's been in the director's chair since Lost World as well as for Colors. Okay so they actually did follow what I wanted for action stages: they're using old places, and extremely remixing them up with the new cyberspace element to be distorted and weird. It's still nostalgia levels but at least it's a new spin on them as auxiliary to the open world. Now my worries come down to "How much of the Forces-isms are still there in the boost gameplay?"
Watch, people are gonna talk about how the cyberspace levels are the only good parts a out the game. And then Sega will hyperfocus on that for the next decade until we get sick of them.
Also it doesn't look great, but the performance is a little more stable than initial reveals and the first gameplay batch. I'll say it upfront even though it's just being captain obvious: Frontiers wasn't lazily backported to the Switch like Forces was, but instead seems to have been the target. While the other versions do look notably better, as better as that barren landscape with some extra flowers and foliage can really look with screen-space reflection puddles on top, this feels like the baseline the entire game is designed around.
https://twitter.com/psiwindftw/status/1541779204181729285?s=20&t=HzdAIyf_F0ToDbj3t2gO5Q looks like Sonic isn't magnetized to earth anymore
we've asked this before but good lord what the heck kind of build did they first show off at the beginning of the month, almost nothing seemed finished besides puzzle interactions, and now a Nintendo Direct Mini of all things is showcasing more finished stuff by comparison
Any time soon people will forget about the whole concept of "it's an open zone game so you can go wherever the hell you want to go" and complain about how the cyberspace levels are linear.
I'm sorry but this is all I can think of when I see Sonic's aerial trick animation in that footage. Also, the GameInformer covers have been confirmed to be Evan Stanley artwork, which is nice, if not surprising. Anyway, if this is how the cyberspace levels look on Switch, just imagine how great they'll be on the more powerful consoles. My only apprehension at this point is less about the game conceptually and more "can we trust SEGA not to fuck this up somehow" after the monkey's paw of Sonic Origins.
It's so saddening that Origins, the most expected of the two games (and of which folks expected to not get screwed up), ended up that way. How does SEGA want us to keep trusting them after all this? Oh, wait, I forgot. As long as sales justify it, they'll keep doing things this way -_-
I'm genuinely excited for this game. I've been looking forward to a Sonic game where you can finally do something open and fun with the controls you are given. The only other Sonic games that actually felt like they utilized Sonic's movement to the fullest was Adventure 1 and Unleashed. I'm just hoping the Cyberspace levels are much more like Generations/Unleashed level design and not Forces. Forces would end its levels just as it felt like it was going somewhere.
Huh, Sage looks to be pretty young, which is surprising given that we have that footage of a voice giving Sonic instructions that sounds like an older woman. Weird. Hopefully she lives through her debut and doesn't get immediately killed off or sealed away. I'd love to see Eggman's* edge-child interact with Metal Sonic during the Olympics, or go-kart tier shenanigans! *Assuming this officially retracted paragraph is still relevant.
SAGE seems to be different from the AI voice we heard in other previews, I cant imagine they are the same but I could be wrong. Switch performance so far seems not bad! Definitely not ideal, and I probably wont be picking that version up at all, but perfectly fine by the looks of it. If they do what forces does and lock visuals to 30fps but controls to proper 60fps then I think it will be totally fine, it does a lot to make the game feel good
inject that music into my veins Ohtani!! ...and that is my takeaway from the trailer. no seriously though, while GHZ again is kind of eh, I am just...actually getting hyped for this! it seems like there's more and more at play than was shown initially, and I'm happy to see Sonic (both the game and himself) having a decent amount of style again.
More like they'll say it's the only good part, and then SEGA will go as far away from that as possible for no good reason.
I'm surprised by all the positive comments about the cyberspace levels. It's the exact same level design seen in Forces and Colours. Just wide, empty corridors with homing attack targets placed on a staircase in lieu of actual platforming. We've only seen a few seconds, but that level design could come from any of the boost games. I don't have any hopes that the rest of the game will be different, when this type of design has made up the entirety of other games.
That city highway stage looks dope as hell. Glad we finally got to see some of the Cyberspace stuff outside of 'tater-cam footage. Frontiers looks more fun and more interesting with each new tidbit that comes out, and I'm ready to impatiently tap my foot and constantly check my watch waiting for its release. Even if the Cyberspace stages are more Lost Valley and less Rooftop Run, I can see them being a nice way to break up exploring the islands. My issues with Forces' level design were more related to their length and not having a whole lot going on in between. It can be a fun game to speed through, but it's over before it really gets going, and the flow feels a bit wonky because you're switching between Classic, Modern, and Avatar all willy-nilly. Frontiers seems (so far at least) like it will be much more consistent.
I'm actually more surprised people like the song that plays during the trailer after the bashing the soundtrack for Forces got. Sounds like it's going for the same direction as Arsenal Pyramid or Luminous Forest. Not that I mind it, I actually did like the soundtrack for the game (minus some tracks for Classic Sonic).
I’m surprised by the positive comments as well. We hardly saw any of the level design. Maybe that’s why there is hype: when you’re given less you’re intrigued. I get that… but we should remember that the indepth gameplay they showed off looked awful. And tbh I think fans have greatly overstated the IGN gameplay being an older build. Yes that wasn’t for the cyberspace levels and yes there may be better stuff we haven’t seen. I just think we should keep our expectations in check, especially after Origins… and forces… and lost world… The one nice thing I have to say is that this looked way better on the switch than I thought it would.
